Christmas Cupcake Wreath

Preheat the oven to 180C / 160C Fan / Gas Mark 4. Line two 12 hole muffin tins with red cases from the Dr. Oetker Rainbow Cupcake cases pack. 

In a large bowl beat together all the cupcake ingredients until smooth. Spoon the mixture into the baking cases and bake for 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool completely. 

Once cooled, arrange 14 cupcakes in a large circle on a serving plate or cake board and place the remaining cupcakes inside in a smaller circle, to make a Christmas Wreath shape. 

Soften the Dr. Oetker Vanilla Buttercream style icing in their tubs by giving them a quick stir with a spoon. Add the 3 tubs of softened buttercream to a large bowl. Squeeze in 3 tubes of Dr. Oetker Green Extra Strong Food Colouring Gel and beat with a spatula until all the colour is mixed through. Add the buttercream to a piping bag with a medium star nozzle. 

Swirl the buttercream on top of each cupcake, starting from the centre of the cupcake and working around to the outer edge. The icing should cover the tops of the cupcakes but not be piped too tall. 

To make the bow, knead a few drops of Dr. Oetker Red Food Colour gel into 50g of White Fondant Icing. Continue to add the gel colour until you reach your desired colour. 

Dust your work surface with some icing sugar or cornflour. Roll out the coloured fondant to about 2mm thick. 

Use a knife to cut out four 3cm-thick strips and one 2cm-thick strip. On two of the 3cm strips, cut out triangles from the bottom so they look like ribbon ends. Keep the remaining fondant for later. 

Take the other two 3cm strips and fold them over to make two loops (use a little water to help them stick). Pinch the two loops together.

Take the 2cm strip and drape it over the the centre of the two loops to look like the knot of a bow. Add the remaining strips as the ribbon ends. 

At the top of your cupcake wreath, stick down your fondant bow by sitting it on to the buttercream. 

To make mini candy cane decorations, take the remaining red fondant and 20g of White Soft Fondant icing. Roll both the red and the white fondant into long sausage shapes. Take both pieces and twist them together to give the striped candy cane look. 

Use a knife to cut out six 5cm pieces of the twisted fondant. Arch the top of each piece to make the candy cane shape. Place them on top of the cupcake wreath. 

With any scrap red fondant, roll them into balls to look like berries and scatter them over the wreath. 

With the remaining white fondant icing, knead in 3-4 drops of yellow gel food colour. Dust your work surface with some icing sugar or corn flour. Roll out the yellow fondant to about 2mm thick. 

Cut out a few different sized stars and set aside. Spray each star with Dr. Oetker Gold Shimmer Spray. 

Use a knife to lift each star onto the cupcake wreath and spread evenly across the wreath. 

Finish decorating the Cupcake wreath with Dr. Oetker Taste of Christmas Sprinkles or Glamour & Sparkle Sprinkles. 
Serve as your Christmas Showstopper!